31/01/2006 (Agence Europe) - In our bulletin No 9120, page 14, in the article on regional policy, please read: “from EUR 50 million to 25 million” (and not 20 million).
As for citizens taking ownership of European issues, the Commission points out the importance of “citizenship education” as “training on European institutions and policies” and “training in the use of communication tools”. The involvement and participation of minorities and vulnerable people in public life is also of fundamental importance. The Commission proposes to launch a period of reflection with Member States according to the open method of coordination, as already exists at European level for education and training. It proposes the creation of a European Institute for Teacher Training and linking libraries in a real European digital network.
Various Community programmes, such as Leonardo da Vinci, Socrates, Erasmus, the i2010 initiative etc, contribute to the promotion of citizenship education at European level, especially since they have wide public support. In this context, funding for the forthcoming “European Citizenship” scheme for 2007-2013 will depend on future discussions on the financial perspective.
The Commission also intends to launch a European, “e-Inclusion Initiative”, to combat the digital divide and promote equality of opportunity in the information society area. Finally, people will be able to find out about local initiatives on European issues through an Internet site and use some historic sites as areas for debate and dialogue.
Transparency is key for the implementation of an European public zone, stresses the Commission, which believes that it has substantially improved the way in which it consults on political initiatives, though, echoing the present initiative on transparency (see EUROPE 9066), further improvements are possible
. At the present time, the Commission is in contact with 1500 different interest groups, two thirds of which represent companies, one fifth citizens' organisations and the others professional organisations, trade unions and national and regional public entities. The Commission would like to see a more balanced representation of interest groups. Several initiatives in the field of transparency might also be envisaged: European Parliament, Council and Commission debates open to public and journalists, greater involvement of the Committee of the Regions in major political initiatives.
The future European communications policy will recognise the indispensable role of the media. The Commission stresses the success of services such as Europe by Satellite (EbS), Euronews and the Europa Internet site, which is the world's largest, and points to the European Parliament's present consideration of creating a television channel on the Internet.
However, apart from European Councils, “media coverage of European issues remains limited and sporadic”, admits the Commission, which hopes “to launch an inter-institutional debate in 2006” to study the feasibility of an inter-institutional press agency, building on the experience gained from EbS. To guarantee its independence, this new agency would have its own management structure and an editorial charter.
It could offer the following services: continuous information on European news, production of information files and databases, live coverage of events, construction of archives. Still in the area of the media, the Commission could explore ways of widening the viewing public of the Euronews channel, of creating columns on Europe in national daily newspapers, and improving links between regional media and European news channels (for example EuropeDirect network). A Community communication training scheme for officials of European and national institutions is also a possibility.
The Commission would like to be better informed of public opinion and to take it more into account, something that would require better news gathering and broadcasting to the general public and political decision makers. It proposes to study the feasibility of an independent monitoring centre for public opinion and the media operating on a joint remit from the European institutions and Member States. Additionally, on the publication of each Eurobarometer poll, representatives of the European Institutions and civil society could interpret the outcomes. In the sphere of academic research on the media and communication, developing a European network of researchers could create a synergic effect.
The White Paper on the information and communication strategy completes the initiative launched last October in the “Plan D for democracy, dialogue and debate” initiative (see EUROPE 9048). The Commission also presented an internal action plan at the end of July 2005, setting out the specific measures it wished to implement to improve its activities in this sphere (see EUROPE 8998).